TEXANS PRIMER
Breaking down the season opener against Jacksonville.
The rivalry: The Texans lead the AFC South series 19-11 and have won 11 of 15 in NRG Stadium, including six of the last seven.
The coaches: The Texans’ Bill O’Brien is 27-21 in three seasons, having gone 9-7 each year. O’Brien is 6-0 against the Texans. Doug Marrone, who began last season as Jacksonville’s assistant head coach, went 1-1 on an interim basis after Gus Bradley was fired. Marrone had 6-10 and 9-7 seasons in 2013 and 2014 respectively as the Buffalo Bills’ head coach, losing to O’Brien’s Texans in 2014.
How they compare: Behind now-departed quarterback Brock Osweiler, the Texans finished the 2016 season 29th in yards gained (8th rushing, 29th passing) and 28th in points scored, tying the Los Angeles Rams for last in offensive touchdowns with only 23. The Jaguars were 23rd in yards gained (22nd rushing, 20th passing) and 25th in points scored. Defensively, the Texans were first in yards allowed (12th rushing, 2nd passing) and 11th in points allowed. The Jaguars were sixth in yards allowed (19th rushing, 5th passing) and 25th in points allowed.
Plot lines: Players receiving the most scrutiny will be the two quarterbacks, the Texans’ Tom Savage and the Jaguars’ Blake Bortles, and Texans defensive end J. J. Watt, the three-time NFL Defensive Player-of-the-Year who is returning from a back injury and subsequent surgery that limited him to three games in 2016 (Watt is also coming off a week in which he spearheaded a fundraising effort that had brought in nearly $20 million to help people whose lives were upended by Hurricane Harvey. The fourth-year pro Savage was named Houston’s starter over top draft pick Deshaun Watson, the 12th player selected in the 2017 draft following a national-championship season at Clemson, but Savage figures to be on a short leash given O’Brien’s history with his quarterbacks and Watson’s credentials.
Although Bortles has started the last 45 games for the Jaguars after being selected third overall in 2014, he got off to a poor preseason start this summer and nearly lost his job to journeyman backup Chad Henne.
Six degrees of separation: O’Brien and Marrone have been friends since 1995, when O’Brien joined head coach George O’Leary’s staff at Georgia Tech as a graduate assistant and Marrone was already serving as director of football operations. O’Brien’s wife, Colleen, introduced Marrone to his wife before either of them knew O’Brien. Marrone would return the favor, introducing O’Brien to Colleen.
Trending: While the Texans go in hoping to break out of their 9-7 rut, the Jaguars are trying to end a nine-season playoff drought, the NFL’s fourth-longest.
Go figure: Tom Savage, making only the third start of his career, is still seeking his first NFL touchdown pass. O’Brien’s teams have won 14 of 18 games against AFC South teams, going 7-2 both at home and on the road. He’s 2-1 in season-openers, all at home.
Worth pondering: The Texans couldn’t have ended their abbreviated preseason on a worse note, a lackluster 13-0 loss in New Orleans almost two weeks ago in which neither Savage nor Watson shined, followed by the cancellation of the Dallas game because of Hurricane Harvey. But playing at home in the wake of Harvey’s devastation should inspire a supreme effort from the Texans.